School choice is often compared to many things, but Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., came up with a new one on Tuesday: mayonnaise.
“I can go down to my over-priced Capitol Hill grocery this afternoon and choose among about six different types of mayonnaise,” Kennedy said. “How come I can’t do that for my kid in school?”
Well, that’s a new one.
Comparisons between grocery stores and school choice are a fairly common comparison. If, for example, food stamp recipients were only allowed to use their benefits at the nearest grocery store, there would be outrage. Low-income families would be stuck shopping at low-quality convenience stores while the wealthy would be free to shop at the grocery stores of their choice.
Kennedy’s comparison wasn’t too far out there, but it was funny nonetheless.
Not everyone was amused by Kennedy’s quip. “Education is not mayonnaise, and the day we choose to treat public education like the marketing of our condiments we have given up on our kids,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said later in the hearing.
Kennedy, apparently not one to mince words or spread them on slices of whole-grain bread, produced another giggle-worthy moment at the Senate subcommittee hearing when he asked Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, “You’re aware, I’m sure, that some people don’t like you because you support vouchers and charter schools?”
DeVos took this answer in stride, replying with a grin, said, “I’m peripherally aware of that, yes.”
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
